Detroit Tigers generate estimated $38 million from playoffs

October 29, 2006

DETROIT (AP) Â? The Detroit Tigers, who turned in a profit this year for the first time since Mike Ilitch bought the team 14 years ago, generated about $38 million in ticket sales, parking and concessions and souvenir spending during the playoffs, economic experts say.

Comerica Park hosted six playoff games, and the Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group estimates that they generated $38 million in ticket sales, parking revenue and spending on concessions and souvenirs.

The team's success will pay other dividends for years to come, said Larry Alexander, president of the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"There has been a marked increase in meeting planners coming here to kick the tires and putting a lot more tentative business on our books," he told the Detroit Free Press.

Tigers' regular-season home attendance rose an average of 7,500 a game, or 28 percent, from last year in response to the team's big improvement. A spokeswoman for Ilitch said earlier that the team turned a profit for the first time in his 14 years as owner.

Sellout crowds of 42,000 at each of Comerica Park's six playoff games led to 10,000 to 20,000 vehicles per game that needed parking. Most lot and deck owners charged $5 to $20 per vehicle.

The games also boosted the number of people watching Detroit-area television stations and reading local newspapers.

Restaurants and bars gained business, both in the area and throughout the Tigers' Michigan fan zone.